The List

Erin:  
There is a secret list.  We Literary Dorks all have one.  The List of Books You Should Have Read in Order to Have an Intellectual Conversation.

 Mary: 

Rochester could totally take Darcy.  Just sayin'

For years I feigned familiarity when other literary folks made references to Heathcliff and Cathy, the madwoman in the attic, or Colin Firth making such a delicious Darcy.  It was exhausting and embarrassing, so five or six years ago I gave myself the assignment of reading all the Brit Lit classics that my high school teachers ignored and my college professors assumed I'd already read: Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Wuthering Heights, and Jane Eyre.  ~sigh~  Jane Eyre.  I can honestly say without a trace of hyperbole that my life has not been the same since.  How did I live without Jane?! She's smart, strong, and passionate.  She is everything I want a heroine to be.  She is everything I want to be.      
 
Erin:
My name is Erin.  I have an English degree and a Reading Specialist license, and I have never read Pride and Prejudice. Or Jane Eyre. Or Emma.  Yes, I know, this revelation might result in public shaming.  I've beaten myself up over it too.  But this summer, I'm making amends.  Two days ago, I started Pride and Prejudice.  

I made it about fifty pages in before I reached for a pencil and a stack of sticky notes.  (It's my blog.  Laugh all you want.)  Some passages made me laugh out loud; others had me picturing walls of my house decorated with Austen wisdom in beautiful script...

"I would rather be paid the compliment of being believed sincere."

"Those who do not complain are never pitied."

"I have no pleasure in talking to undutiful children."

Thank you Ms. Austen.

It's about time I read Pride and Prejudice; I feel better about myself already.  I'm not ashamed to admit I have to read this book quite slowly.  The house has to be quiet.  Georgian-Era English sometimes feels like a foreign language; I am not used to this kind of writing.  Sometimes I even go back and re-read passages.  I make notes in the margins, look up words, and summarize events of the chapter.  But the story is fantastic and somehow, when comparing this book to contemporary fiction, I am in awe that Jane Austen has succeeded in doing far more with far fewer words than writers have at their disposal today.  

Mary: 
When you experience a gem like Pride and Prejudice or Jane Eyre, you wonder, "What else am I missing?"  Since the rest of the educated world seems to think Moby Dick is worth a gander, shouldn't I?  What about War and Peace? Ulysses?  (Yeah, yeah, I wrote a paper on Ulysses my senior year of college.  That doesn't mean I read it).  My List seems to grow and grow.  Crime and Punishment, I'm somewhat ashamed to admit, is on the list because I'm competitive.  My boyfriend has read it and quotes it, and I can't say anything in return.  And that irks me.  A lot.  He's a scientist, dammit; I'm the dork in this relationship, thank you very much.  So, to reclaim my title, I'm gonna read the bleeping book, whether I like it or not.  

See, that's the thing with The List: sometimes, you end up reading things that are, well, not so fun.  I tried Madam Bovary this summer.  It took three days and much effort to make it to Chapter Eight, and then I just sort of lost interest.  

(Okay, okay.  Since it's a confession, I'll be honest.  I was bored out of my mind and wondered if maybe I could skim ahead a little.  So I looked up a chapter-by-chapter plot summary on Sparknotes and decided my Literary Dork tiara would not be tarnished if I put aside Madame Bovary for good.)

Erin:
Both Mary and I read The Hobbit for the first time this year - and that is only because we were leading a parade of middle school dwarves on a riotous romp through Tolkien.  We read it because we told them to.  And I'll let you in on a little secret: we didn't love it.  The language was beautiful, I appreciate its significance, and I understand why the story has lasted 75 years, but it just didn't do it for either of us; however, something inside us felt accomplished.  Popular culture and society at large (and every person possessing a Y chromosome) make reference to Gollum, Gandalf, and the gang.  Now we are "in."  This is something we should have read, and now we have.   

The Hobbit is officially crossed off the The List.  Soon, Pride and Prejudice will be.  I am tempted to tackle Emma next, but I fear Mary will lock me in an attic if my next conquest isn't Jane Eyre. 

So, dear reader, pray tell us.  What's on your List?